Truth cube: establishing physical standards for soft tissue simulation

Accurate real-time models of soft tissue behavior are key elements in medical simulation systems. The need for fast computation in these simulations, however, often requires simplifications that limit deformation accuracy. Validation of these simplified models remains a challenge. Currently, real-time modeling is at best validated against finite element models that have their own intrinsic limitations. This study develops a physical standard to validate real-time soft tissue deformation models. We took CT images of a cube of silicone rubber with a pattern of embedded Teflon spheres that underwent uniaxial compression and spherical indentation tests. The known material properties, geometry and controlled boundary conditions resulted in a complete set of volumetric displacement data. The results were compared to a finite element model analysis of identical situations. This work has served as a proof of concept for a robust physical standard for use in validating soft tissue models. A web site has been created to provide access to our database: http://biorobotics.harvard.edu/truthcube/ (soon to be http://www.truthcube.org).     

The impact of tutorial strategies on student nurses' accuracy in diagnostic reasoning in different educational settings: a double pragmatic trial in Italy

BACKGROUND: Italian Nursing Faculties use a range of tutorial strategies (laboratory sessions, intensive clinical tutoring, weekly tutoring) aimed to enhance nursing students' diagnostic reasoning: these strategies have different impacts on promoting student critical thinking. By using critical thinking methods, students develop abilities to check, monitor and constantly evaluate the accuracy of the diagnostic reasoning process. However, there is little evidence to show how effective tutorial strategies are on the accuracy of diagnostic reasoning. There is also very little known about the complexity of tutorial strategies because these are made up of several components (e.g. tutor questioning abilities, the value of the setting, the impact of the environment, the expertise of the tutor and the impact of the Faculty's philosophy of learning), tutorial strategies cannot be standardised and depend on multiple factors which are difficult to control. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to establish a relationship between tutorial strategies orientated to enhance critical thinking and the accuracy of diagnostic reasoning (i.e. the number of correct answers given by students on simulated cases in two different nursing education contexts). It was hypothesised that students who had had one laboratory session using intensive tutorial strategies had less probability of making reasoning errors in diagnosing a simulated case than a control group that had weekly tutorials or routine tutoring. DESIGN: A double pragmatic experimental study was adopted involving two Italian Nursing Faculties at universities in Verona and Udine. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 144 students in the first year of their Nursing Science Degree course were involved; in Verona, two random groups of 41students were taken (an intervention group and a control group). Random selections of 39 students for the intervention group and 29 students for a control group were made from the second campus in Udine. Data analysis was conducted comparing student outcomes in the same faculty (intra-trial analysis) and between the two campuses involved (inter-trial analysis). RESULTS: The students doing laboratory sessions and intensive clinical tutorials demonstrated fewer errors compared to the control group [OR 3.75; IC 95% 1.77-7.88], although the students who receive routine tutoring, demonstrated higher risk of mistaking the problems of the patient [OR 0.22; IC 0.95% 0.07-0.65]. CONCLUSION: From intra- and inter-trial analysis of the results, it can be concluded within limits, that those students who had had intensive tutorial strategies aimed developing critical thinking abilities, formulated fewer wrong hypotheses in the first list they made when confronted with a new nursing case. Faculties should consider these outcomes and develop strategies including intensive tutorial strategies for improving the accuracy of nursing students' clinical reasoning.     

Primary motor cortex long‐term plasticity in multiple system atrophy

In humans, intermittent and continuous theta‐burst stimulation (iTBS and cTBS) elicit long‐term changes in motor‐evoked potentials (MEPs) reflecting long‐term potentiation (LTP)‐ and depression (LTD)‐like plasticity in the primary motor cortex (M1). In this study, we used TBS to investigate M1 plasticity in patients with MSA. We also assessed whether responses to TBS reflect M1 excitability as tested by short‐interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF), short‐interval intracortical facilitation (SICF), and the input/output curves. We studied 20 patients with MSA and 20 healthy subjects (HS). Patients were clinically evaluated with the Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale. The left M1 was conditioned with TBS. Twenty MEPs were recorded from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle before TBS and 5, 15, and 30 minutes thereafter. In a subgroup of 10 patients, we also tested MEPs elicited by SICI, ICF, SICF, and input/output curves, before TBS. Between‐group analysis of variance showed that at all time points after iTBS MEPs increased, whereas after cTBS they decreased only in HS. In both subgroups tested, patients with predominant parkinsonian and cerebellar features, iTBS and cTBS left MEPs unchanged. MSA patients had reduced SICI, but normal ICF, SICF, and input/output curves. No correlation was found between patients' clinical features and responses to TBS and M1 excitability variables. These findings suggest impaired M1 plasticity in MSA. © 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society     

Predictive molecular markers in metastases to the central nervous system: recent advances and future avenues

Metastases to the central nervous system (CNS) are common in several cancer types. For most primary tumors that commonly metastasize to the CNS, molecular biomarker analyses are recommended in the clinical setting for selection of appropriate targeted therapies. Therapeutic efficacy of some of these agents has been documented in patients with brain metastases, and molecular testing of CNS metastases should be considered in the clinical setting. Here, we summarize the clinically relevant biomarker tests that should be considered in neurosurgical specimens based on the current recommendations of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) or the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for the most relevant primary tumor types: lung cancer (EGFR mutations, ALK rearrangement, BRAF mutations), breast cancer (HER2 amplification, steroid receptor overexpression), melanoma (BRAF mutations), and colorectal cancer (RAS mutations). Furthermore, we discuss emerging therapeutic targets including novel oncogenic alterations (ROS1 rearrangements, FGFR1 amplifications, CMET amplifications, and others) and molecular features of the tumor microenvironment (including immune-checkpoint molecules such as CTLA4 and PD-1/PD-L1). We also discuss the potential role of advanced biomarker tests such as next-generation sequencing and “liquid biopsies” for patients with CNS metastases.     

Evidence that the central canal lining of the spinal cord contributes to oligodendrogenesis during postnatal development and adulthood in intact rats

Two waves of oligodendrogenesis in the ventricular zone of the spinal cord (SC‐VZ) during rat development, which take place between embryonic days 14 and 18 (E14–E18) and E20–E21, have been described. In the VZ of the brain, unlike the SC‐VZ, a third wave of oligodendrogenesis occurs during the first weeks of postnatal development. Using immunofluorescence staining of intact rat SC tissue, we noticed the presence of small numbers of Olig2⁺/Sox‐10⁺ cells inside the lining of the central canal (CC) during postnatal development and adulthood. Olig2⁺/Sox‐10⁺ cells appeared inside the lining of the CC shortly after birth, and their number reached a maximum of approximately 0.65 ± 0.14 cell/40‐μm section during the second postnatal week. After the latter development, the number of Olig2⁺/Sox‐10⁺ cells decreased to 0.21 ± 0.07 (P36) and 0.18 ± 0.1 cell/section (P120). At P21, Olig2⁺/Sox‐10⁺ cells inside the CC lining started to express other oligodendroglial markers such as CNPase, RIP, and APC. Olig2⁺/Sox‐10⁺ cells usually did not proliferate inside the CC lining and were only rarely found to be immunoreactive against oligodendrocyte progenitor markers such as NG2 or PDGFRα. Using 5‐bromo‐2‐deoxyuridine administration at P2, P11, P22, or P120–P125, we revealed that these cells arose in the CC lining during postnatal development and adulthood. Our findings confirmed that the CC lining is the source of a small number of cells with an oligodendroglial phenotype during postnatal development and adulthood in the SC of intact rats. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:3194–3207, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Leukoencephalopathy,cerebral calcifications and cysts: a family study

We present a clinical, neuro-radiological and genetic study on a family with members suffering from an autosomal dominantly inherited syndrome characterised by epilepsy, cerebral calcifications and cysts, bone abnormalities; progressive neuro-cognitive deterioration and paranasal sinusitis. This syndrome shares several features with leukoencephalopathy with calcifications and cysts also called Labrune syndrome and the condition of cerebroretinal microangiopathy with calcifications and cysts (CRMCC; Coats plus syndrome). Genetic studies in this family did not reveal mutations in the CTC1 gene defected in CRMCC. We interpret our results as those supporting recent findings that despite clinical similarities, late-onset Labrune and Coats plus syndrome might be distinct entities. This family may have Labrune syndrome or a yet unclassified entity; exploration of similar cases could help classifying this one, and related conditions.     

Klinische Bindungsforschung mit dem Adult Attachment Projective Picture System: Methodik,klinische Anwendung und Perspektiven

The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) is an established, reliable and valid representational measure of attachment for adults. In this review we report on several studies using the AAP in the clinical and neurobiological context. Moreover we demonstrate some disorder specific characteristics in patients with different disorders in their AAP narratives. In sum the AAP is valid for assessing attachment representations in several clinical disorders in the context of psychotherapy research. The economic administration allows to apply the AAP also in the clinical routine. This measure can also be administered in adolescent participants. There are only a small number of studies examining the change of attachment status during psychotherapy. We report on a study in depressed patients and their significant change from disorganized to organized attachment representations after 15 months of psychoanalytic treatment. This study identified neural changes in patients using an adapted AAP-fMRI paradigm to assess their improvement on a neural level. The feasibility of the AAP in an fMRI environment opens new possibilities to examine neural correlates of attachment. An fMRI study on Borderline patients with attachment trauma revealed clinically relevant results, concerning the patients’ intolerance of aloneness.